Cornell University Registrar

Program Description

Urban studies is an interdisciplinary minor field intended to complement basic studies in such Fields as City and Regional Planning, Economics, Government, History, Human Development, Management, and Sociology, as well as various fields in engineering. The minor helps students develop competence in such subject areas as processes of urban change, public policy and administration, theories of urbanization, urban ecology, urban economics, urban planning, urban political processes, and urban social structure. Because of this field's interdisciplinary character, the faculty member who represents the student's urban studies minor on the Special Committee cannot be a faculty member in the student's major field.

This is a minor field. Application for admission is made only to the major fields. After matriculation, a student may select minor subjects from the major or minor fields.

Graduate Minor Requirements

For students in graduate research degrees, earning a “minor” in a specific subject or concentration is not explicitly linked to the completion of coursework but is instead defined by the student’s special committee. Faculty serving on the student’s special committee each represent a concentration. Because many graduate faculty are active in more than one graduate field or academic discipline, students and faculty should be clear about which concentration will be represented when a committee is formed.